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Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume 6
[Page 101]
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3375-PS
VOELKISCHER BEOBACHTER,
South German edition, 4 November 1933, Page 10.
[Report on mass meeting held in Essen on 2
November 1933, election campaign for Reichstag
election and referendum on Germany's leaving the
League of Nations scheduled for 12 November.
Chairman of the meeting Gauleiter Terboven,
speakers Hitler and von Papen. Following is
translation of von Papen's address:]
The appeal of Vice-Chancellor von Papen.
Ever since Providence called upon me to become the
pioneer of national resurrection and the rebirth
of our homeland, I have tried to support with all
my strength the work of the national socialist
movement and its leader; and just as I at the time
of taking over the chancellorship have advocated
to pave the way to power for the young fighting
liberation movement, just as I on January 30 was
selected by a gracious fate to put the hands of
our chancellor and Fuehrer into the hand of our
beloved field marshal, so do I today again feel
the obligation to say to the German people and all
those who have kept confidence in me:
The kind Lord has blessed Germany by giving it in
times of deep distress a leader who will lead it,
through all distresses and weaknesses, through all
crisis and moments of danger, with the sure
instinct of the statesman into a happy future.
[Page 102]
When I had the honour last year to fight in
Lausanne for the German interests to free Germany
from the burden of the tributes, I said repeatedly
and with greatest forcefulness to the then French
and English Prime-Ministers: the problem of
reparations is not only a material one but to a
much larger degree a moral one. Germany at least
wants to be free of all the discrimination which
make it a second rate nation.
But those statesmen were not anointed with the oil
of psychological perception, they did not
understand at that time the meaning of the hour
and they have not shown any understanding now in
these days in Geneva. History has taken its course
and the Fuehrer has put into action the knowledge
of the fact that nothing can be gained for Germany
on the floor of the disarmament conference and the
League of Nations by withdrawing from it. The
German people are grateful to him for this
decision which clears up the situation.
The election of November 12 is the most democratic
of all means to ascertain whether the German
people agree with the policies of his government,
and whether they have agreed to the development
pointed out to them by national socialism.
And what could show better to the other countries
the alliance between Fuehrer and nation but this
election, this question about the confidence of
the nation? Therefore it is necessary that all
Germans understand: this time not parties or
systems, not individuals or laws are at stake but
simply Germany herself.
Therefore let me say a word at this hour to those
who today are not among us, those who found it
perhaps difficult to follow the development of the
last few months because for a lifetime they might
have gone the wrong way of adhering to a socialist
ideology or shared the opinion of another party.
Those Germans I remind that it is the desire and
intention of the Fuehrer to weld the entire German
nation, all its classes and sectors into a
national and political unity.
The best proof of that is that he guaranteed to
the churches the full freedom of their high
spiritual function, that he was ready to grant
them more for the exercise of their high mission
than at any time any liberal government of the
last century.
Here in the heart of an overwhelmingly catholic
province I express the urgent request to my
catholic fellow-citizens to reward this generous
recognition of the Christian basis of the Third
Reich offered by the Fuehrer with the fullest
confidence in the future, and with giving their
votes for him.
[Page 103]
The Fuehrer desires--I know it--the reconciliation
with all those who were not in his ranks during
the years of the struggle for the great goal he
bears in his heart. The catholic part of the
people did sacrifice its blood on the battlefields
with the same devotion like all other fellow-
citizens. The catholic part of Germany--wherever
it may have stood politically--will not stand back
either on the 12th of November, when it will be
the time to offer a profession on behalf of
national honour and of confidence in the Fuehrer.
Let us in this hour say to the Fuehrer of the new
Germany that we believe in him and his work.

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